Shawn O’Connell shawn.l.oconnell@gmail.com
UBC 4th Year BASc, Electrical Engineering 604-807-6915
Formula UBC Projects
In my three years with the team the electrical team has undergone a huge transformation
from two members just struggling to keep old electrical systems on the car working to a
team of 8 members who have overhauled the entire electrical system and are focusing on
more advanced integration between other subteams. Allowing for more data collection,
better control, and more efficient design. The team has also let me get hands on with the
mechanical side including assembling suspension on the car, redrilling rotors, and
designing mounts
Power Distribution Module
Description
Uses power MOSFETS controlled by a STM32 MCU to send 12V power to all required
components on the car. The switch to digital switches has allowed us to greatly shrink the
board size as well as allowing for more advanced tracking of power usage
Contributions
Tested and debugged single channel prototype board, reviewed layout before production,
assisted with wire mounting options to allow us to avoid a large connector. Helped write
firmware for the microcontroller which allows for data logging and correct control of power
output based on inputs
2
Body Control Module
Description
To help assist the team adapt with design changes between years we have developed a
modular control board. This board allows us to swap out circuits to adapt to new sensor
types or control new hardware. Manufacturing of the add in boards is cheaper and simpler
than having to remanufacture a complete board which contains more expensive
computational components and connectors
Contributions
Validated DDR connectors to ensure they were suitable for our use cases, giving us enough
pins for data and power as well as giving us a locking mechanism to ensure secure fit well
on the car. Designed shifting circuitry used on the add in boards to control pneumatic
shifting.
3
Wiring Harness
Description
Connects the various components of the car together providing power to components and
connecting sensors to control units. Manufactured using mil-spec standards allows for a
flexible, sturdy , reliable harness suitable for the high stress environment on a race car
Contributions
Generated lists of all required connections on the car and node split points, measured
distances on the chassis to determine lengths between various nodes and connectors, used
this information to generate a BOM and order required materials for manufacturing,
worked on cutting, stripping, pinning of wires as well as concentric twisting and heat
shrinking of the harness
4
School Projects
Time Domain Electromagnetic Surveying System
Description
The project was done through the capstone program, we worked as a team of 5 to design
the pulse generation hardware to be used on a full scale surveying system. The hardware
was split into two stages, the charging hardware to take a 28V input and boost the voltage
to charge capacitors up to 1000V and the H-Bridge hardware which utilizes IGBTs to control
a 500A current pulse through an inductor coil suspended below a helicopter. We also wrote
code for STM32 microcontrollers to implement control loops for both the charging circuitry
and the pulse generation. Control of the H-Bridge allows us to evenly spread the load
between the IGBTs to avoid damaging components as well as being able to add more
energy into the system to maintain the 500A pulse despite losses through the coil.
Contributions
I was in charge of charging circuitry for this project. I researched and simulated available
boost topologies and ended up selecting a flyback converter due to the high gain potential
and efficiency, with the only limit to maximum voltage being component ratings and charge
time. The converter operates by charging up the primary side of a transformer and then
disconnecting the primary to charge the capacitors on the secondary side.
5
Wind Tracking Turbine
Description
The project was handled by a 4 person team, with each member assigned a specific aspect
of the project. There were size requirements provided as well as requiring the turbine to
track the wind within a certain range as well as controlling a buck boost converter to allow
for optimal power output.
Contributions
I was in charge of firmware for the project. This included determining micro controllers to
control the system as well as sensors to be used. Using a STM32 I implemented PID control
to track the wind and a Perturb and Observe algorithm to maximize power output of the
turbine. I also implemented UART to send data from the STM32 to a Raspberry pi which
was running a life graphing website that could be accessed from mobile devices and also
allowed for emergency stopping of the turbine remotely
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